The Princess and the Rat
by Tijuana Pirate
Summary: Reffie fluff. Yuffie is sick one night and asks Reno to tell her a story. So, 'once upon there was a princess. . .'


Author's Notes: Consider this as an apology for not posting chapter seven in Salvation as soon as I had hoped. It should be up sometime before next Saturday. I wrote this little fluff story in the middle of chapter six and have been waiting to post it for a while. Enjoy.  
Oh, and for those who don't know, Salvation is my first multi-chapter fic. It's a TsengElena fic but Reno gets to play a role in it too. If you're interested, give it a look. I should warn you guys though: it's as angsty as this is fluffy. Sure is fun to write though.  
  
~The Princess and the Rat~  
  
Yuffie looked at the small cap of red liquid that Reno was holding in front of her face.  
"Ah, come on Reno. Don't make me."  
The liquid hovered there, undaunted.  
"Please?"  
Reno shook his head.  
"No way Yuffie. You kept me awake half the night coughing last night. Take it."  
"But I hate medicine," she whined. "Especially that kind. It's nasty and it'll put me to sleep forever!"  
"That's a good thing Yuffie. Just take it!"  
"I'm not even sick!"  
As if to belay that, Yuffie was suddenly struck with a horrendous coughing fit. She doubled over, coughing convulsively and clutching her chest in pain. When it subsided, she looked up at Reno sheepishly who raised one eyebrow in question.  
"Fine."  
Yuffie pouted a little before taking the cap from Reno. Then, in one dramatic swing, she swallowed the sticky red cough syrup and automatically gagged on it.  
"Gods! That's awful."  
Reno smiled a little.  
"That's cuz it's medicine Yuffie."  
He leaned forward and brushed his lips against her forehead. Yuffie smiled at the contact. He turned to leave her in their bedroom (Reno having a 'never sleep with someone when they are hacking and sound like they are about to die' policy) when Yuffie called out to him.  
"Reno!"  
He turned around at the doorway, striking a casual pose.  
"Yeah babe?"  
Yuffie looked down at her hands sheepishly. It sounded so stupid but. . .  
"Can you stay? For a bit I mean?"  
Reno grinned a little.  
"Why?"  
Yuffie shrugged.  
"I don't know. Just a little bit lonely I guess," she mumbled.  
"What?" Reno asked, pretending that he didn't hear.  
"Oh fine you big jerk! Leave if you want!" Yuffie threw a pillow at him and Reno dodged it easily, chuckling. He walked up to their bed and plunked himself down on it. Yuffie's hand automatically found his, her fingers rubbing against his ever so softly.  
"I hate being sick." She mumbled.  
"I thought you weren't sick," he replied, eyes laughing.  
"You are such an ass."  
Reno shrugged. Yuffie laughed and then turned her head away from him to cough.  
"If you make me sick Yuffie. . ." Reno warned mock-threateningly. Yuffie snorted and then rested her head against his shoulder. She was already starting to feel the effects of the medicine. It felt good to rest against Reno's shoulder and to breathe in a scent that wasn't cloyed with the palpable stench illness though.  
"Tell me a story," Yuffie said sleepily.  
"A story?"  
"Yeah, a story. Like my dad used to tell me when I was a kid. Bedtime story."  
She didn't look up but she could picture Reno's slight smile.  
"Never been much good at stories like that Yuff."  
"So, make one up."  
Reno chuckled slightly.  
"Okay, a story. . . So, once upon a time there was a princess."  
Yuffie laughed a little.  
". . . and this princess didn't really want to be a princess. She wanted to be a dancer."  
"Oh did she?"  
"Hey, I'm telling the story right?"  
"Sorry."  
"Anyways, this princess, she wanted to be a dancer real bad. She'd practice every morning. She'd even sneak out at night to practice when nobody else was watching."  
"Bad princess."  
"Yuffie."  
"Sorry."  
"Course, there was a law in her kingdom that said that princesses couldn't be dancers. They were supposed to be princesses and marry the people their fathers told them to to make more little baby princesses in some crazy princess-making scheme. This princess didn't want to get married and have babies though. She wanted to be a dancer. Oh, and have I mentioned that this princess what the most beautiful princess in all the land?"  
Reno kissed Yuffie lightly on her forehead again. She smiled.  
"No, but I'm glad you did."  
"Anyways, the king of that land wasn't a particularly bad guy but he didn't want his princess running away to be a dancer in some festival somewhere because she had to be able to make more little baby princesses. One day, he decided to lock that princess away in a tall, tall tower. The princess was miserable in that tower. It was all dark and gloomy and mouldy there. The only people that she was ever allowed to see were the servants that brought up her food and the suitors that her father sent. 'Pick one of these men to be your husband,' he said, 'and then I will let you out of the tower.  
The princess wasn't overly interested in any of the men that her father sent her to look at. Some were fat. Others were old. In the end though, it all came down to one simple question. 'If I were to marry you,' the princess would ask, 'would you let me be a dancer?' Of course not, they would scoff. Princesses aren't meant to be dancers. They are meant to have little baby princes and princesses and that's it.'"  
"Poor princess," Yuffie muttered sadly.  
"It gets better," Reno promised.  
"Anyways, this went on for a bit and the king was getting a little depressed. He wanted his princess to marry so that he could have little princes and princesses to play with. Nothing compared to the princess' depression though because she was still locked up in that tower with hardly anyone to talk to.  
Then, one day, she was just too sad and she started to cry. She cried and cried because all she had ever wanted to do was be a dancer and now she was so desperate to get out of the tower that she knew that the moment another suitor came up the tower she'd automatically say yes and then she'd never ever be able to dance again.  
Now, in the princess' room, there happened to be a little mouse hole and down that mouse hole there lived a rat. He wasn't a fine looking creature, being a rat, but he had watched the princess dancing and thought that she was the most beautiful creature in the whole wide world. When he heard her crying, he thought that his little rat heart would break so he climbed out of his hole.  
'Why are you crying Princess?' the little rat asked, half afraid that she would scream and throw things at him the way so many other people had because he was, after all, a rat. The princess did neither of these things though. Instead, she answered the rat.  
'Oh, little rat, my father the king has locked me in this great tower and won't let me out until I decide to marry a man he chooses.'  
'Is that a bad thing?' the little rat asked. 'Aren't princesses supposed to marry people like that?'  
'But, little rat, I don't want to be a princess. I want to be a dancer.'  
The little rat gave her a little rat smile.  
'That's a wonderful idea princess.'  
The princess sniffled a little.  
'Really?'  
'Really. I think that you should be allowed to be a dancer if you want to be.'  
Of course, the princess was overjoyed and her hope was restored. She turned down all the suitors that her father sent and her father was more depressed then ever. The princess though spent all of her days talking to her new friend and dancing to her heart's content. One day, she spoke to the rat.  
'Rat, I'm happy now but I still wish that I could get out of this tower. If only there were a way.'  
The little rat thought about this.  
'Maybe I'll be able to change your father's mind,' he said.  
The princess laughed a little.  
'But you are just a rat, rat. How could you change the king's mind?'  
The rat was sad when he heard this because it was true. What could a rat possibly do?"  
Yuffie suddenly leaned over and kissed Reno on his cheek.  
"I like rats." She said spontaneously.  
"Then you wouldn't make a very good princess."  
Yuffie laughed and waited for Reno to continue his story.  
"Anyways, the rat thought about some way that he could change the king's mind but what could he do? He was, after all, just a rat. Nobody loved him with (with the exception of the princess) and he had nothing to offer anyone."  
"Aw." Yuffie said, touched.  
Reno shrugged and continued.  
"So, in the end, the rat decided to do something crazy, something shocking."  
"What?"  
"He'd go ask the king."  
Yuffie chuckled at that.  
"The little rat crept down the tower and into the King's palace. There, he crept up to the King's bedroom and unto the King's bed. The king was sleeping at the time and he snored horribly."  
Yuffie snorted and Reno smiled.  
"The little rat was only a little bit scared of being smushed or something by the king but he wanted to help the princess so he crept up to the king and said,  
'Um, Mr. King? Excuse me?'  
But the king snored on. The rat tried and tried to wake him until the rat finally lost his temper. Then, he took his little rat teeth and bit the king on his nose!  
'Wake up!' the rat screamed and the king awoke with a start.  
'What? What is it?' Then he looked down at the rat sitting on his stomach.  
'Who are you?' asked the king.  
'I'm the rat that lives in the tower,' answered the rat. 'I'm here because the princess is unhappy there.'  
The king harrumphed.  
'She only has to stay in the tower until she finds herself a husband,' answered the king but this wasn't good enough for the rat.  
'She doesn't want to find a husband. She wants to be a dancer,' said the rat.  
The king laughed at that because it was such a ridiculous idea.  
'Princesses don't become dancers,' the king said. 'They marry and-'  
'-have little baby princes and princesses?'  
'Exactly.'  
The rat thought about this for a little bit.  
'But, why does she have to?'  
The king seemed surprised at that question.  
'Because that's the way it's always been,' he answered.  
'Why?'  
The king didn't seem to have an answer for that one. Suddenly, the little rat had an idea.  
'Why don't you come visit the princess in the tower? Maybe that would change your mind?'  
The king shook his head.  
'The princess won't talk to me anymore. She says that she won't talk to me unless I let her out of the tower.'  
Now, it is a fact that every type of creature, even insects and rats, has their own special kind of magic. Cat magic lets them walk without making a sound. Dog magic lets them smell things that no other animal could. Big creatures like Dragons have amazing magic that let them breathe fire and ice. Rat magic isn't nearly as special. It just lets them be small, fast, and very good at hiding."  
"My mother used to tell me about that," Yuffie said dreamily. "Animal magic."  
She sighed a little and Reno caressed her cheek affectionately. She smiled at him.  
"Now, this rat was very good at being a rat. In fact, it was all he had ever been so his rat magic was very strong. In fact, it was so strong that he could hide people with it if they were very, very quiet and didn't move at all. He told the King this and the King thought about it.  
'Could you hide me from the Princess?'  
The rat nodded and the king agreed to climb the tower with the rat.  
That night, when a servant came to bring up food for the princess, the rat snuck back into the room and distracted the princess so that she wouldn't see her father the king sneak into the room too. Then, the rat used his magic to make the king invisible. After she ate, the princess set her tray aside and the rat hoped up onto her lap.  
'Did you talk to my father, rat?' she asked.  
The rat looked sad.  
'I did but all he said was that it was a princess' job to get married and-'  
'-have little baby princes and princesses,' she finished sadly.  
The princess started to cry then and the rat felt horrible.  
'Don't cry Princess,' he said in his tiny rat voice and he tried to comfort her as best he could. After a while, the princess calmed down a little and wiped at her eyes.  
'Oh, rat!' she said, 'I forgot to tell you! I made up a new dance when you were gone.'  
The rat smiled at that.  
'Can I see it?' he asked and the princess readily agreed.  
She stood up and walked into the middle of the room with a startling grace. Then, 1, 2, she started to sway to music that she imagined playing. Step, turn, pause, step, sway. It was without a doubt the most beautiful dance the rat had ever seen, so sad and beautiful. The princess danced about being locked in a tower, about being alone, and about bittersweet joys. Watching his daughter, the king felt something melt inside him. Suddenly, it didn't seem so important that his daughter marry and have children. Watching her, seeing her so sad and yet happy, his heart broke and he started to cry. He cried and cried and the little rat's magic wore off. The princess saw her father crying in the corner and she ran over to him.  
'Father?' she asked, surprised to see him.  
'Ah, my daughter! I'm so sorry!'  
Well, you can well imagine what happened next. The father repented and let his daughter out of the tower and she was free to dance and dance however much she wanted. She kissed the rat on his nose, thanked him, and then ran down the steps of the tower two at a time. And she lived happily-"  
"No!" Yuffie said suddenly. Reno paused there and looked over at Yuffie.  
"What?"  
"The story can't end there." She said firmly. "You forgot about the rat. He deserves a happy ending too."  
"Oh?" Reno asked, smiling a little. Yuffie nodded self-assuredly and Reno took up the narrative again.  
"After the princess left, the rat was sad because he was all alone again. He really had loved the princess but now she was out, dancing free. He had thought that the knowledge that the princess was happy would be enough for him but it wasn't. How could it be when he loved the princess so much?"  
"One day, the rat was sitting in what used to be the princess' room and was feeling very alone. He had never felt more alone in all his life. He felt more alone than when the girl servants screamed when they saw him and more alone then when the nasty boy servants threw rocks at him. He had never been more completely alone in his life. So he started to cry. It was a tiny mousy sound and it was quiet, so quiet, because the rat didn't really know how to cry, being a rat.  
Then, up in Heaven, an angle heard the little rat's cries. She floated down from Heaven on a ray of light and decided to see what was hurting the rat so.  
She was a beautiful thing, though not quite as beautiful as the princess. She had-"  
"- soft green eyes and long, beautiful brown hair." Yuffie added in dreamily. Reno nodded.  
"Soft green eyes and long, beautiful brown hair. She picked up the little crying rat and asked him why he was crying so. The rat told her.  
'The princess who used to live here is free now but I love her and I miss her so much. But I'm just a rat. How could I love a princess?' He started crying again because it seemed so hopeless a thing: a rat and a princess.  
The green-eyed angel just smiled though.  
'Well, that's not so hard,' she said and then she kissed that little rat right on his nose, the way the princess had. And then, magically, the rat wasn't a rat anymore but a man. A real man. He looked at himself, amazed.  
'How?' was all he thought to ask. The angel just smiled.  
'It was how she always saw you.' The angel said.  
The rat-turned-man was amazed and thanked the angel ever so much and then he too ran down the steps of the tower two at a time. He ran up to the palace and yelled out to the princess who was inside. She came out of the palace to see what all the yells were about when she spotted a strangely familiar man. She walked forward and looked at the man quizzically. Suddenly, her eyes widened.  
'Little rat?' she asked. He smiled and the princess smiled and it was surely the most beautiful thing the man had ever seen. . ."  
"And they lived happily ever after?" Yuffie asked.  
Reno bent forward and kissed her on her lips, germs be damned.  
"Anything you want babe. Anything you want."  
  
***A few years later***  
  
"Papa, tell me a story?"  
Reno sat down on his daughter's bed and ruffled her hair a little. She looked so much like her mother.  
"A story?"  
"Yeah, please Papa?  
Reno chuckled.  
"All right, but just one k? It's past my bedtime and I don't want your mom mad at me."  
The little girl giggled and looked up at him with bright eyes. Reno smiled.  
"Okay, so, once upon a time, there was a princess. . ." 


End file.
